Future German Olympic Bid Needs Focus

(ATR) IOC honorary member Walther Tröger still sees question marks in a possible German Olympic bid by the Rhine-Ruhr region for 2032.

"As far as the cost factor is concerned, the concept [...] is absolutely in line with the IOC's Agenda 2020. Now the main thing will be to get the approval of the population," said the 91-year-old in an interview with sports magazine Kicker.

Should sport and politics decide to apply for the 2032 Olympic Games, Tröger sees the greatest challenges in the external presentation.

"How do you want to define Rhein-Ruhr-City in relation to IOC representatives from Brazil or the Comoros? The Games are traditionally not awarded to a region, but to a city, and Rhine-Ruhr is not a metropolis that everyone knows," said Tröger, who was President of the National Olympic Committee for Germany (NOK) from 1992 to 2002.

"You have to be able to identify the region as an Olympic city. The task will be to create such a brand."

Tröger is open-minded about a possible Olympic bid by Berlin for the 2036 Games, despite the historical burden of the National Socialist Games 100 years earlier.

"In my opinion, enough time has now passed. History has progressed and 100 years are enough to draw a line, to forget and to show the world: The Berlin of today has absolutely nothing to do with the one from back then," he said. "We showed in 1972 how a modern democratic Germany can organize such an event."

He is convinced that Berlin can submit a good bid. "But there is also a strategic question behind it. It will not be enough to make the IOC a good offer," he emphasized: "At the same time, it must be ensured that the IOC does not cause confusion with the question of what we Germans actually want: the Summer Games in the Rhine-Ruhr region in 2032 or in Berlin 2036."

Homepage photo: Max Pixel

Written by Heinz Peter Kreuzer

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